Plastic shopping bags have become increasingly common in the marketplace as replacements for bulkier, more expensive, paper bags. Plastic shopping bags generally have at least two ribbon-like carrying loops or straps extending from the upper rim of the bag for use as handles for carrying the filled bag. These carrying loops, however, tend to bunch together or collapse under loading and can cut into a user's fingers, especially if the bag is filled with heavy items. In addition, the thin plastic bags are not self-supporting and are more likely than paper bags to fall over and spill their contents when they are placed on a support surface and not carried by the loops.
To counteract these shortcomings, grocery store baggers often do not fill the plastic bags completely, requiring a greater number of bags to be provided by the store or supermarket. These additional bags represent an additional cost to the supermarket which is passed on to the consumer.
Plastic bags also are awkward for customers to manage in transit from the store since they often fall over and spill their contents.
Some stores have attempted to reduce spillage by tying the bag loops together. Although no additional expense is introduced, tied bag loops can be difficult to untie, especially after weight is applied. Moreover, tying the bag loops together still does not overcome the carrying discomfort resulting from gripping the thin plastic carrying loops.
Other stores solve the problem of the inability of plastic bags to be self-supporting by fastening bag loops closed with a wire twist-tie or a plastic bread-bag closure device. Twist-ties however, can be awkward to remove, and plastic bag closures still do not solve the problem of carrying discomfort. World Manufacturing, Inc. is manufacturing a T-shirt bag closure which fastens the bag loops with a double-notched flat plastic piece similar to bread-bag closures. Although this device adequately fastens a bag's loops, it is somewhat difficult to attach and it does nothing to alleviate, and even can add to, the discomfort of carrying plastic bags. Thus, consumers still do not want plastic bags to be filled with the same number of items as can be placed in paper bags.
Prior to the introduction of inexpensive plastic bags with integral loops, several types of attachable bag handles were created to carry bags with string-type carrying loops or parcels wrapped with twine, for example, the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,618,854 to Worth; 2,287,329 to Santa Maria, et al., 2,684,797 to Schulte; 2,717,411 to Taipale; 3,149,367 to Dills; and 3,800,361 to Stauffer. Although perfectly adequate for their intended use, these devices have various disadvantages. Some are not suitable for the rapid insertion of wide, ribbon-like bag loops found on plastic bags. They are not stackable, which makes dispensing and storage of such bag holders more difficult, and most of these prior art attachable handles would be prohibitively expensive to manufacture and supply to consumers. Further and very importantly, these prior art attachable handle devices are of poor ergonomic design. They place a disproportionate load on the user's fingers, and they tend to be rigid and do not conform well to the user's hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,640 to Enersen, and an Italian bag grip offered by Williams-Sonoma of San Francisco, Calif. are designed specifically for plastic bags. While they are easily attachable to the bag, they also are easily removable and do not lock the bag carrying loops together. These devices have to be reattached each time the bags are set down, leaving the bags vulnerable to spillage and causing the user to have to re-manipulate the bag loops. As with the previously mentioned devices, the Enersen and Williams-Sonoma bag loop holders are not efficiently stackable, and they are bulky and expensive to manufacture, requiring substantial raw material.